Unite statement on zero hours exclusivity

“Banning exclusivity clauses is a joke. It misses the key point that zero hours confer fear and misery of those forced into them - no security, no protection and little dignity

“With millions now declared 'self-employed', underemployed and insecure at work, we believe that the scale of workplace insecurity is vastly underestimated by the Tory government and needs to be addressed. When business fails to create decent jobs, there are serious and deep social and economic consequences for our country.

“The government ought to be looking at why so many people are facing desperate times at work and forcing employers to pay a decent wage for guaranteed hours rather than exploiting corporate welfare as a way of subsidising exploitation.

“The focus on ‘exclusivity’ does nothing to turn an insecure job into a better one. The truth is that employers just won't call back people who turned down work and the right to be exploited by four or five employers is no right at all.

“People don’t want to have to juggle two and three insecure, zero or short hour jobs to get by - they just want one decent job to support them and their families.

“This is what they look to the government to do, create decent, secure jobs, paying decent pay for guaranteed hours not stack the dice even further against them.'

"Token measures like this do little to address the misery of hand-to-mouth, wait by the phone jobs which are a curse for the people relying on them and their families.”